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Weekend Conference Presentation
Morning Keynote - June 21
Inquiry as a Portal for Collective Insight, Wisdom, and Innovation

Presented by Glenna Gerard

   
 

Presentation Slides

Abstract:
The power of inquiry as an entry point for new ways of perceiving, thinking, and engaging with the systems we inhabit and co-evolve is ageless. Practices that support fruitful inquiry are found in a wide diversity of spiritual, scientific, and cultural traditions. Whether we are asking the simple and elegant questions of an ‘after action review’ or standing at a major crossroads in a project at work or in our personal lives – inquiry is the key for opening the door to insight, wisdom and innovation. We will hear stories of how inquiry has changed our world. We’ll learn about practices from different traditions for strengthening our inquiry ‘muscles’, both as individuals and in groups. We’ll engage in an activity of collective inquiry around a question we generate. The aim: for you to leave with the feeling that you have stepped through a portal and are now standing in the same and yet somehow quite different place. And that you have a few more ways to invoke the power of inquiry to open portals in the next 36 hours of this conference and when you return to your organizations, families, communities.

Glenna Gerard

Biography: Glenna Gerard is a gifted leader, consultant, facilitator, and experiential designer and guide, with 30+ years of working in diverse contexts. Her purpose is to foster awareness of wholeness within any and all systems – individual people, teams, organizations, communities. She has created and offers a diverse selection of frameworks and practices for expanding perspective and seeing clearly what is needed to make wise choices and take clear and necessary action.

Born in the Western United States, before the age of 13, Glenna lived in a foreign country, learned another language, and discovered first-hand how culture can both enrich our lives and separate us. In high school she sketched a design for the world's first fusion reactor and envisioned herself doing research on how the brain works. She graduated from Columbia University with a degree in Chemical Engineering and an intense thirst for learning that led her into many eclectic arenas. Professionally, she has developed and written science materials for alternative high school programs, been a salesperson, a business leader, consultant, writer, master facilitator, learning designer, and guide/coach.

In the 1990s Glenna pioneered the development of Dialogue, a form of conversation, grounded in inquiry, that builds collective systems awareness and trust-based relationships. She co-authored the book Dialogue: Rediscover the transforming power of conversation, published by John Wiley & Sons in 1998, and translated into German, Portuguese and Chinese.

In 2005, she created the first Presence Walkabouts™, which she has evolved into a rich technology of reflective skills and practices to build individual and collective capacity for inner stillness, self-awareness, and the wisdom to take clear and necessary action. Glenna has published numerous articles and papers on Dialogue and Leadership and the Power of Place. She has presented at numerous local and national conferences for professional associations, including TEC, The Systems Thinking in Action Conference, Association for Healthcare Philanthropy, American Society for Training and Development, Association for Quality and Participation, Organization Development Network, ASQC, International Conference of Work Teams, International Association of Facilitators, National Conference on Peace and Conflict Resolution, and the Institute of Noetic Sciences. Glenna currently lives in Northern New Mexico.

Contact: Glenna can be reached at this link for additional information about this Weekend Conference session.

Website:
www.walkaboutswithglenna.com

Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/glennagerard

 


   
       
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